Let's be real, game design has been a hot topic among games over the past couple years and the Legend of Zelda has been a big part of the discussion through it all. It's a series full of interesting puzzles and design quirks that's spanned, like, 30 years or something, so naturally it's gonna spark some opinions.

So, what are your opinions? On the design of Zelda/Ocarina of Time? Are there any things you like, or dislike, or are there certain aspects of the game/s where you think things could have been improved?

Maybe you've even got a couple puzzle and design ideas of your own rolling around in your head? C'mon! I know you do! Even if OOT is a game we don't fully understand how to modify yet, it's still fun to just discuss and talk about these things and what we could possibly do with this ~20 year old game. Feel free to share!

I love OoT and MM. These 2 games felt like their were meant to be the same game but had to split it up into 2 parts (Technically they are accoriding to the timeline but since these games play so much alike, I can't help but see sister games.) OoT was the perfect game when it came out and has still lived up to its age for the most part with a few things about it that haven't aged very well. I can say a lot about these 2 games but for the most part I will be keeping the focus on OoT and comparing it to Majora's Mask. I will try to make this coherent and will edit it later to make it more fleshed out.

For one would be its environment design. From a gameplay perspective, many of the environments aren't super fleshed out as they could be or should have been. Zora's River is more like Zora's Creek, Gerudo Valley had an actual river, Hyrule Field is big and empty and had many areas that felt like there should of been more to it, but got cut from either the 64DD expansion being cut and Cartridge space. OoT used just about the 32 megabytes the cartridges had for it. Now with Majora's Mask, we got a super flushed out world. Termina had so much story, side quests, main quests, and NPCs all flushed out to give you insight into the parallel world. MM's world felt much bigger and more unique compared to OoT's Hyrule. MM would do what OoT seldomly did and would have the races be in parts of the world that they were not native in. The goron checking in at the Stock Pot Inn, the Zora manager, the Deku Scrub that wants a Moon tear for his wife. The World of Termina felt so real and relatable. The NPCs had their own story and set of problems and you got to experience and help them with their problems. OoT had the Gossip Stones to fill you in on the World but it isn't quite the same just being told "Hey, did you know this is a thing?" versus seeing Anju walking out in the rain, sitting on a bench alone and then crying because of her lover that has gone missing and she is thinking she isn't loved anymore, etc. OoT did have the Child to Adult Link transformation and the world world would change from the 7 years where Ganondorf ruled, and you seen all of the effects from his rule. Which was very cool, but MM felt more personal. The denizens of Termina lives' were affected from the falling moon and Skull Kid's shenanigans. I could go on and on about how MM's world was much better than OoT's and how world building is very important in any video game.

I don't know if this is a valid criticism or subjective opinion but I will say it anyway. I felt like OoT had too many areas that looked the same. Hyrule Field, Lake Hylia, and Zora's River all used roughly the same textures and each area doesn't give off a new feel that Death Mountain Crater did when entering it from Death Mountain. Death Mountain Crater and Death Mountain Trial felt so different from one another with the change of color from grey rock to red rock and the music drastically changing from the cheery hyrule field theme to that underground/ Dodongo's Cavern theme. The World of OoT is very small by today's standards and while it isn't entirely a bad thing, you end up wanting more from it and its world now doesn't satisfy you the same as it did back when we first played it. Majora's Mask also had much more color to it. OoT had some ugly places in it that aren't as pretty/ interesting to look at compared to MM. MM felt way more psychadelic, dark and unique to say the least. 1/2 of MM's dungeons had 2 dungeons that were very unique for a zelda dunegon. Those being the Great Bay Temple and the Stone Tower.

OoT shines the brightest with its many dungeons. All of the dungeons are well made and all have a great feel to them. Each dungeon feels unique from each other dungeons with similar themes (Example: Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple) have rightful places in the world and only add to it. I can't pick my absolute favorite dungeon from OoT since I like them all but I will acknowledge which one was the most unique and that would be Jabu Jabu's Belly. Going inside of a living, breathing Fish with the many parasitic organisms is the most strange dungeon for a zelda game. I don't think it has been done ever since as far as I am aware.